Despite the majority of Americans agreeing that more concealed weapons would make America safer, the left continues to push for stricter gun laws and regulations and more gun-free zones.

However, banning the legal carrying of firearms simply has not worked and will not work.

What gun-free zones essentially create are victim target zones, areas in which citizens are left especially vulnerable to attack and unable to legally defend themselves.

As Gov. Mike Huckabee put it during the latest undercard Republican debate, “Of course we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun-free zones, where people would have been law-abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it were not allowed to under the law.”

Echoing the historic findings of economist and gun-rights advocate John Lott, Mr. Huckabee makes a valid point; gun-free zones lead not to less but to more gun-related deaths.

In reality, the victim target zones created by gun-free zones don’t protect citizens from gun violence at all, but actually serve as hotbeds for murders, mass shootings and terrorist attacks.

The counterproductive effect of gun-free zones has been especially apparent in some of the most infamous mass shootings of our time.

In fact, Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado and Umpqua Community College were all gun-free zones.

Law-abiding American men, women and children were left as sitting ducks, with little hope of protecting themselves against these attacks.

Yet, gun-free zones continue to pop up across the country, creating more and more victim target zones.

“What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked, ideas that would not have stopped San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, Aurora,” Mr. Huckabee said.

And, he is exactly right.

The effort to create gun-free zones has not worked and will not work.

Those who seek to kill will find a way, oftentimes completely disregarding the law as they did in Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut and Oregon.

Why should this evil path be made easier for murderers and terrorists through the continued creation and acceptance of gun-free zones?

Law-abiding citizens are being prevented from protecting themselves in areas where evil continues to pose a substantial threat.

The nonsense must stop.

Americans should be empowered to defend themselves, not legally unable to do so.